Mumbai: Former Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey has approached the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him at Thane for extortion, criminal conspiracy, and forgery.
Pandey has claimed that the FIR by businessman Sanjay Punamiya was filed belatedly out of “political vendetta”. Punamiya alleged that Pandey, in 2021, misused his position as DGP to extort money and coerced him into giving false statements.
Pandey’s lawyers, Mihir Desai and Rahul Kamerkar, submitted that not only was the FIR filed after a delay of three years, but is part of a “political vendetta” against him since his retirement as Mumbai Police Commissioner in June 2022.
The plea also argues jurisdictional issues, asserting that all alleged incidents occurred within Mumbai’s Commissionerate, outside the DGP’s control. Pandey stated: “The DGP of Maharashtra does not direct Mumbai’s police officers, who report to the Police Commissioner and the Additional Chief Secretary (Home). Thus, the Applicant (Pandey) could not have committed the alleged acts.”
Pandey’s petition highlights a delay of over three years in filing the FIR, stating: “The delay exposes the inauthenticity of the contents. It is implausible that the complainant, after three years, suddenly claims coercion by the Applicant, with whom he has never interacted.”
Further, the plea describes Punamiya as a habitual litigant with multiple FIRs against him across Maharashtra, undermining his credibility. It notes that similar complainant previously filed by Punamiya were dismissed.
Pandey has termed the FIR a targeted attack, stating: “The FIR is part of an ongoing political vendetta against me since my retirement.” The petition requests the HC to quash the FIR and stay the investigation, arguing that none of the offences alleged are made out against him.
The FIR accuses Pandey, two retired police officers, and others of threatening Punamiya with false cases unless he implicated political figures in an urban land ceiling scam. Punamiya alleges that while he was admitted to Saifee Hospital in 2021, officers conveyed Pandey’s message to implicate Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, and Param Bir Singh. Punamiya refused, claiming the threats were orchestrated by Pandey, then the state DGP.
Pandey had earlier faced arrest in a money laundering case and a CBI probe into phone tapping allegations but was granted bail in both cases. In the current FIR registered by Thane police, he has been granted pre-arrest bail till January 3.
A bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deahpande will hear the plea on December 18.
